I’ve received several comments on The Simple Leader, with some of the most unexpected having to do with the section where I discuss my desire to design and build a home with Lean principles in mind. If I hadn’t studied chemical engineering I probably would have gone to architecture school – it’s been a passion of mine for decades.

For the past several years I’ve been looking for the ideal piece of property to build on, but nothing has been the “right” one. In the meantime I’ve remodeled every room of our current house, but although we have a nice ocean view and the fixtures and amenities are perfect, it still has issues. 1940s house, many rooms, many halls, many doors. Barriers to simple, minimalist, meaningful living. Not to mention lots of maintenance.

Still, I couldn’t resist designing the ideal residence, so I worked with an architect friend of mine on several ideas. Then, just a week ago, an existing home came on the market all of two blocks from us that has nearly ideal bones, and we’re now in escrow. Incredible unblocked views of nearly twenty miles of California coastline and our small fishing village of Morro Bay, privacy from nearby homes, and a simple layout that can be changed into what we want. So the plan has changed from a ground-up build to an extensive remodel of a current home with the right fundamental characteristics.

So what are we doing to convert it into a “lean house” – and what are those characteristics anyway? Here are a few (my full list is a couple pages long!):

Optimized Floorspace

As I describe in my book, we almost bought a much larger home several years ago near the peak of the housing bubble. Thankfully it didn’t happen when the bidding went above our price, which helped us think about our true needs – one of which was less space. This flies in the face of traditional thought where as you improve your financial situation you generally go larger – whether you need it or not. In our case we began to embrace a minimalist lifestyle, requiring less and less space. Remember that minimalism doesn’t mean doing without – it means ensuring that everything has true value and getting rid of the rest.

We’ve gotten rid of possessions that add little value, requiring less space. Our new home is almost 20% smaller than our current home, and that is still more than enough. Extra space is a waste that then requires additional cost in cleaning and heating, extra time to walk, and creates separation between you and your family. Though perhaps that’s a benefit to some folks…

Less Storage Space

Nine years ago I wrote a post on how my desire for less storage space created a conflict with my mother in-law, and eventually some puzzled looks on the faces of real estate agents. I now believe in this idea more than ever. Storage space, like extra space in a factory or home, has a tendency to get filled – whether needed or not. Back in the days when companies regularly moved me from place to place I had several boxes that hadn’t been opened over two or even three moves. Value? I ended up simply tossing them, sometimes without even opening.

So as part of the remodel of our new home, we are removing many extra and unnecessary cabinets, especially including a monster entertainment center. The kitchen, closets, and bathrooms are being remodeled with minimal cabinet space. Yes, this could affect the resale value since most people believe storage space to have value, but I’m hoping we’re in this home for a long time – perhaps forever.

Remove Barriers to Flow

One of the problems with our current home is that there are several rooms on two levels, plus a detached garage. We’re on a corner lot, on a hill to boot, so the easiest path from the kitchen to the trash bin is out the front door, around the corner and down the street, and into the garage. Really. To get anywhere in the house there are usually two or three doors and a flight of stairs involved.

Single level living simplifies flow right off the bat, and that’s one welcome characteristic of the new house. One challenge my architect friend and I often worked on was to see how few doors, walls, and corners a house could have. Bathrooms obviously need privacy, but for other spaces there are ways to create segregation without significantly disrupting flow. For example, removing line-of-sight but without disruption of walls or the feng shui poison of sharp angles can be accomplished with curved walls.

No, I’m not designing a factory, but I’m using some lessons from when I did help design a large manufacturing facility several years ago. Spaghetti diagrams help locate processes and functions to minimize walking and transportation. Our garbage cans will now be just a few steps from the kitchen, with just one (necessary, due to fire regulations) door in the way.

Doors themselves are interesting. A traditional swing door creates considerable non-usable space. Because of this I’ve become a fan of pocket doors, although they can be a nightmare if maintenance is ever necessary. There’s a recent trend toward the similar barn door concept, which is something we’ll be using in the new house.

Barriers to flow are also barriers to communication – visual and otherwise.

Fewer Horizontal Surfaces

Although I’m not a big TV watcher, I’m a big fan of flat screen TVs. Perhaps some of you still remember its predecessor, the monster tube TV… with the big flat surface on top. Inevitably stuff would get stacked on top. Clothes on the bedroom TV, magazines on the living room set, and so forth. Flat screen TVs changed all that, hence why I’m a fan. I’ve never liked the impact that horizontal surfaces can have on clutter when, ahem, everyone in the household isn’t as steeped in the power of 5S as I am.

Because of this I’ve tried to remove as many horizontal surfaces as possible from my ideal home, and will in the remodel as well. No flat surface in bay windows, only the necessary counter space in the kitchen, and no extra chairs in the bedroom. If I was the boss even the counters would have an angle on them – flat enough so work could be done, but vertical enough that nothing could be stored on top. The real boss is probably right, though, that there would soon be sliced fruit and wine on the floor. But you get the idea.

Smaller Capacity Appliances

We’ve seen many homes that have the largest washers and dryers, multiple ovens in “chef’s kitchens,” and so forth. Why? Are they really necessary? I can see a large lawnmower if you have a large yard, or large washers if you have a large family. But for two of us? If we entertain, it’s probably just another couple. So we need a small washer and dryer, just one oven, and I have come to like the dish drawer concept.

Instead of waiting to fill a standard size dishwasher over the course of a week, generally creating some odor in the meantime, a day or two’s worth can be washed almost on demand. As an aside, I’m personally a fan of washing dishes by hand anyway. It’s a classic mindfulness exercise, being aware of each dish and each activity to clean the dish, and provides some time for reflection. I’m sure it’s similar for fans of gardening and other activities.

In our current house I replaced the old huge hot tub with a small wooden soaking tub built for two – max. I’ve loved it. From a maintenance standpoint I used a UV unit so I wouldn’t have to worry about the regular chemical treatment nightmare of traditional tubs.

Perhaps some appliances aren’t necessary at all. Do you really use the bathtub in the master bath? We don’t, so out it goes so we can have a larger walk-in shower – which is more valuable to us. We’ll keep the tub/shower combo in the guest bath.

How many of you in factories have taken a similar lean approach, replacing a single large press with multiple smaller (and flexibly redundant) presses, and so forth. Same concept. Minimize the monuments.

So there are some concepts for starters. How much space and support equipment capacity do you really need? How can you configure that space to remove barriers and waste? Can you reduce waste and clutter by minimizing the opportunities to create it in the first place? There is value in living simply, but living simply does not necessarily mean removing luxuries if they truly add value.

I’ll now get back to the fun of planning a big remodel. Besides the kitchen, closets, and bathrooms, we’re replacing all the windows on the ocean side with floor-to-ceiling glass, refinished deck, new garage door, and possibly a new EPDM roof. Whew!

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
– Hans Hofman

Look around your office, your factory, and your home. What do you see? Do you really need all of that stuff on your desk and shelves? Is there a purpose to each item? Does it need to be available now, or can it be put out of sight for a few weeks, months, or even forever? How much time do you consume (and stress do you create) by looking for the appropriate tool, book, or utensil? Does your kitchen really need three beat-up measuring cups of the same size? How much does it cost to maintain and clean all of your extra stuff ? What does the space, additional complexity, and distraction cost?

Over time, things in our lives (and our companies) accumulate, and we end up wasting a lot time and effort managing them. To reduce the cost of unnecessary stuff, we use a core tool of Lean called 5S. The term 5S comes from five Japanese words that roughly translate to sort, straighten, shine, standardize, and sustain:

Sort: Review each item, ensure it has a purpose, remove what isn’t needed

Straighten: Find a defined location for what remains, preferably as close to where it will be used as possible.

Shine: Clean and polish the newly uncluttered area.

Standardize: Create a checklist or other method to ensure the area doesn’t revert back to how it was.

Sustain: Create a habit, routine, or daily activity to keep the area clean and neat, and to audit that it has stayed that way.

In short, you remove what isn’t needed, find a defined home for what remains, clean up your space, turn the activity into a habit, and find a way to ensure it continues. Using 5S ensures that your factory floor has only the tools that are needed, in just the right place, and are always returned to that place.

On the best factory floors, and in the best restaurant kitchens, you will often find shadow boards where every required tool is hung on a wall with the outline of the utensil tool behind it. Everyone knows where to go to get the tool there are no extra tools that need to be sorted through to find the right one. It is visually obvious when a tool is missing.

Decluttering also has a Zen component. I encourage you to find one room, or even one shelf, and evaluate the objects you see. Challenge each one. Why is it there, and what is its purpose? What would happen if it wasn’t there? If it has a reason and has real value, then find and define a home for it.

Cleaning can become obsessive, so be sure the effort adds value and aligns with your principles. Does marking the location of your phone on your desk truly add value? Probably not. However, having a clean, neat environment will help give you the focus and strength to tackle more important challenges. Once you have your workspace in order, you will soon realize that simplifying and decluttering doesn’t just apply to physical stuff.

To be most effective, the cleaning needs to be targeted, not indiscriminately applied. The same boss I described earlier, who asked his employees whether they were “incompetent or just incapable,” also had a painful (for us) Friday afternoon cleaning routine. Around three or four o’clock, he would take a look at his desktop, decide that any paperwork on it he hadn’t already looked at must not be important, and sweep everything into the trash can. This was three decades ago, when most reports were still typed on typewriters, so recreating them was difficult. His staff soon developed a routine of going to his office around two in the afternoon to retrieve any unread reports and paperwork from his desk, just to redeposit them there on Monday morning.

Understanding value is critical before tackling a decluttering project.

My twenty plus year Lean journey has changed my life in many ways, perhaps none as significant as a creating a pervasive recognition of and disdain for waste. Coupled with respect for people, this has changed my career, leadership style, and personal life. Observing waste has led to a life of increasing minimalism, which isn’t necessarily a bare bones existence but one where every activity and object creates value or joy.

Let’s take a look at some specific areas of impact.

In the home and office: We’ve all seen the photo of Steve Jobs in his extreme minimalist living room. I’ve long been 5S-ing my garage, desk, and so forth. Of course I should be asking myself why I have to do it multiple times – somehow I (or, ahem, others in my household) are not implementing the Sustain “S’ very well.

Recently I’ve been devoting more time to this after reading Marie Kondo’s bestseller, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Kondo goes a bit nuts with her approach, but it works and is addictive. I thought I was pretty minimalist beforehand, but the twenty or so bags of clothes, unused boxed food, books, tchotchkes and so forth that have left the house over the past few weeks has been stunning. And very liberating. We are approaching the point where the house almost looks too empty, which leads me to my next point.

The home itself: For the last fifteen years my wife and I have lived in a very nice house. Ocean view, unique architecture, close to the coast and wineries that surround us, and average size. Like most people as they progress in their careers and become more successful, we occasionally think about a new house. In the past that led us to almost move to larger, even nicer homes. Luckily we never pulled the trigger as we have come to realize, especially after the last couple years of minimizing, that we need and want less space. We want less storage space and less floor space.

But there’s a problem: as homes become nicer, they typically also become larger. So, with the help of an architect friend of mine, we’ve been toying with new home designs. How little space can we get by with? How few doors, walls, angles, and other “blocks” to clean, usable space? Just a simple focus on minimizing doors creates some incredible designs that feel very liberating, even just on paper. I’m down to four interior doors in the latest design, with even those as pocket doors to avoid consuming space, and I’m obsessed with getting it down to three. Now to find some land. In California. With the ocean view we love.

Physically: Like most folks entering their 50s, a few pounds have crept on here and there. I’ve made the occasional effort to work it off, and have actually been fairly fit for a long time thanks to daily crossfit and strength training. But the pounds remained. Then my friend Paul Akers wrote a book about his journey to lose what is now over fifty pounds from a Lean perspective: Lean Health. The concept of me being the customer resonated, and I soon realized that my concept of portion size was way, way off. Four months later I’m down twenty-five pounds, lower than I’ve been in thirty years, and have a lifestyle that can sustain it. Liberating – and it liberated a bunch of old clothes out of my closet for others to use!

Travel: My wife and I love to travel, and have been to over sixty countries. Travel widens your perspective, well beyond what sound-bite television will tell you about the world. It’s scary how different reality is from commonly-held opinions. Along the way we’ve become pretty good at it, perhaps because we like to plan a major part of our trip after we get to the destination and talk to locals, so we have to be flexible.

A couple years ago we spent a month bouncing around southeastern Africa with just a small carry-on bag each. This was partly driven by the limitations of small bush planes, but also because we simply didn’t need much. I can’t think of anything we wish we would have had – in fact, there were some items we dragged along that we didn’t use. Not having to check bags and being able to quickly change the itinerary is liberating.

Projects: Up until a few years ago I chased every interesting project, every shiny ball, that came my way. In addition to my job, I was juggling all kinds of side projects, personal and professional, and not doing a great job at very many of them. Then I started to make a concerted, mindful effort to reduce projects to just those that I was truly excited about and could give me joy.

A catalyst happened two years ago when I read Gregory McKeown’s Essentialism, which described the power of saying “no.” Politely and with respect for both your time and the requesting person. Admittedly it’s still a struggle, but I’ve become pretty good at saying no. Fewer projects has meant more time, and also more success on the ones I am engaged on, which is liberating.

Decisions: It’s always been very easy for me to make decisions, sometimes too much so. I do trust my gut perhaps more than I should, but it has served me well in the past. Of course (see above), there’s less gut now so perhaps I should be more careful! But I realize I’m a bit unusual in that way, and my wife would say in many ways, which became very clear when I was helping my mother in-law in the final couple years of her life. Decisions became increasingly difficult for her, to the eventual point where she couldn’t decide which episode of Oprah to watch on her TiVo. Simple decisions completely paralyzed her.

I realized that decisions “take up space” in your head, so the more that are being juggled and contemplated without resolution, the more difficult making them becomes. Therefore two approaches are needed. First, make decisions, especially simple ones, as quickly as possible. Be mindful of exactly what information is needed to make the decision, get it, and make it. Also think about the potential downsides, and the fewer or less impactful they are, the more you can trust your gut and make the decision quickly. Second, minimize decisions in the first place. Allow or empower others do make them, or simply don’t get into situations requiring decisions – perhaps by saying “no” like I mentioned above. A head free of decisions is liberating.

There are obviously many other areas. I know someone who gets by with just one car for his family. It takes some initial work, but is liberating on many fronts. The crossfit gym I go to is intentionally very small, with just the equipment necessary to create a holistic, simple fitness experience for a small number of clients (mostly surfers).

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One of my favorite blogs, Raptitude by David Cain, recently had a post on decisionmaking and minimalism. As an aspiring minimalist this appealed to me, but the commentary on choice and decisions was especially apropo.

I've been lucky in that I've always had an ability to make good decisions quickly, whether based on real analysis or winging it from the gut. It's been invaluable in my career and even personal life. But most people I know are less fortunate, and I've noticed how indecision impacts many aspects of their lives. The problem is compounded with age, and in her last years I watched my mother in-law become literally debilitated and frozen by even the most basic decisions. Because she couldn't make decisions, the number of undecided issues made her life appear to be unnecessarily – and impossibly – complex.

The impact of decisions begins with breakfast.

After years of being confronted with a decision shortly after waking, I
decided to be done with deciding what was for breakfast. My usual is now
the only thing on the menu, and since I stopped deciding what’s for
breakfast, mornings have had a significantly different feel. They are
clearer and more spacious.

I can relate – my breakfast is the same cup of greek yogurt and Grape Nuts each morning. I eat it while reading The Wall Street Journal on my iPad, just after my morning meditation and stretching, and just before reviewing my journal. Every day. Routine is satisfying, and calming.

An abundance of choices and the decisions that accompany are both a benefit and curse of the modern world.

As affluent Westerners we’re fortunate to have so many choices, but
according to psychologist Barry Schwartz, having too many possibilities —
which we do in almost every area: breakfast, clothing, careers,
lifestyles and creative pursuits to name some major ones — makes it
consistently harder to be happy with the options we choose. In his TED talk he identifies the ways too many choices erode personal welfare instead of serving it.

Although I didn’t always know why, I know that the more I simplify my
life, in terms of its moment-to-moment options, the happier I am.
Owning fewer things
made me immediately calmer and more grateful. Having an inflexible
regular day for starting my weekly article drastically reduced my
anxiety around writing. Cutting my monetary spending (almost) down to the essentials
gave me an immediate sense of control and abundance I never had before.
I also suddenly have more money than ever — the side-effects of
voluntary simplification tend to be wonderful and freeing, at least when
you’ve been living the Western consumer status quo your whole life.

The reason behind these breakthroughs, I see now, is the same. Each
one reduced the number of decision points in my life. Every time I
reduce the number of decisions I have to make just to move my life
along, everything gets less difficult and I feel better about my
direction. It becomes easier to be grateful and to get myself to do what
is most important to me.

The implications go far beyond your daily meals. The best websites intuitively guide you among very few choices. Well-planned standard work reduces the variation of subjectivity while providing a foundation for kaizen.

Where can you reduce options in your life and in your organization, thereby reducing the waste and unnecessary complexity of indecision, and the variability of multiple decisions?